5 Fast-Growing Climbing Plants, Creepers, and Crawlers in NZ
When you’re trying to cover an unsightly neighbouring fence, a boring wall, or even a part of your home’s exterior, you might start looking for climbing plants in NZ. After all, you can’t make an ordinary plant climb up your wall, and you may not want a hedge. Therefore, you need to look specifically for plants that can naturally spread outwards and upwards, like creeper plants, crawlers, and vines.
Once you’ve decided to buy climbing plants, you’ve then got to think about the best ones for your needs that grow quickly and require minimal maintenance. Whether you’ve after climbing vines, creepers, crawlers, or something else, we’ve listed some of the most popular plants in New Zealand below.
Common Search Terminology
If you’ve never had much to do with your gardens before now, you may not know what you’re looking for. You may know you want a plant to climb up your fence to offer privacy, but it can be a little tricky to put that into search terms when you’re looking for the right plant.
Climbing plant – Here in NZ, a climbing plant is one that climbs up tall objects like trees, fences, and walls. Many climbing plant varieties are vines, which have steps that wrap around things like fence posts.
Creeping plant (creeper) – A creeping plant, or creeper, is a small, viny plant that grows close to the ground. Most varieties don’t produce long enough vines to climb, even with training, so they tend to creep along the ground and act as ground cover. Such plants are useful for people who don’t want to have to deal with weeding and general garden clean-ups.
Crawling plant – Like creeping plants, crawling plants are those that potentially could climb but are not as adept at it. They also go by the name of scrambling, scandent, or clambering plants.
Bougainvillea Glabra – Magnifica
If you’re looking for a fast-growing climbing plant in New Zealand that doesn’t require much of your attention, the bougainvillea glabra or ‘Magnifica’, might be right for you. Even though it doesn’t need much love, this climber is a show-stopper in any property.
It grows up to around three metres by three metres and produces stunning magenta-coloured flowers all summer long. It can also scramble or climb, with beautiful glossy green leaves forming an attractive layer over pergolas, sheds, and walls. They don’t have too many problems with pests, but they do have thorns to watch out for.
Ficus Pumila – Creeping Fig
If you’ve got low walls or foundations that you’d like to cover, the Creeping Fig climbing plant may be worth considering. While slow-growing compared to others, this evergreen climber will eventually be able to cover an area of around 4m2.
It’s not all that showy, but it doesn’t have to be. Its small, petite bronze leaves transform into a beautiful shade of green to offer your yard a burst of colour. All you have to do is trim it and remove woody branches from time to time.
Clematis
One of the most popular climbing plants in New Zealand is the Clematis, and it won’t take you long to work out why. Not only are there several varieties like Rubens and Snowflake, but whatever type you buy, you get to benefit from its fast growth.
This versatile, hardy, and stunning climber will cover walls, fences, trellis, or anything you please. If you’re tired of your neighbours being able to see into your entertainment area, you can quickly erect a trellis and let Clematis work its magic.
They can spread out like a creeper or climb like a vine. They will also produce stunning flowers while only requiring a small amount of pruning.
Muehlenbeckia Complexa - Maidenhair Vine
If you live in or around Auckland, one of the most popular climbing vines you’ll come across is the Maidenhair vine. It’s native to New Zealand and produces a thick living wall on whatever surface you need to cover.
It has a dense mass of interlaced branches and slender stems that twine over other plants or rocks. Maidenhair vine is also incredibly persistent, as it will climb over itself without any form of support.
Star Jasmine
When looking for groundcover plants or crawling plants, you may have come across Star Jasmine or Trachelospermum Jasminoides. While this plant is indeed a successful groundcover plant to save you time weeding the garden, it’s also an attractive and fast-growing climbing plant.
Star Jasmine follows your instructions for how you want it to grow. You can form shapes with wire, let it run free, or encourage it to provide dense coverage for privacy. While it doesn’t work well in areas with many frosts, it ticks all the boxes for most other parts of the country.
What Climbing Plant in NZ Are You Going to Grow?
We’ve got such an expansive variety of climbing plants, vines, crawlers, and creepers, that it can sometimes be challenging to know what’s right for you. See if any of these options above suit your needs. Otherwise, talk to your local gardening experts who can point you in the right direction.